With Father’s Day this weekend, “Dad” by Christian Robinson arrived at just the right time. One page stopped me in my tracks: “Dad... makes mistakes.” As a child, I was very close to my father. As a teenager, we grew apart. Looking back now, I wish I had understood what this book captures so beautifully: dads are human beings trying their best. Today, as a father of two incredible daughters who have grown into remarkable women, that line resonates differently. I have not alwa

Weeds, Wonders, and Wild Things If you are a teacher exploring nature, ecosystems, plants, or environmental stewardship with your students, The Weedy Garden by Margaret Renkl and illustrated by Billy Renkl is a book worth planting in your classroom library. I have a soft spot for books that begin with an “If you...” invitation, and this one gently welcomes readers into a world that many of us might overlook. What some people call weeds, this book reveals as a thriving ecosyst

Love, Law, and Looking Back Some books are windows. Some are mirrors. Some are sliding glass doors. For me, The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage was very much a mirror. As someone in an interracial marriage, I found myself wishing this book had existed when I was younger. Twenty five years ago, interracial marriages were far less common than they are today, and conversations about race, identity, and belonging were not always easy to have. Reading this book

This week read aloud was Miles Ahead by Minh Lê and illustrated by Lynnor Bontigao. What makes a gift truly special? This heartwarming story follows an Asian family preparing for a road trip to meet a new baby cousin. Just as they are about to leave, they realise the gift has been forgotten at home. What begins as a frantic search soon turns into something much deeper. As the family looks through the house, memories from the child’s younger years begin to surface, reminding e

What a beautiful surprise to receive “Spendin’ Time: A Picture Book about Family and Slowing Down” on my special day. But what made it even more meaningful was having the chance and privilege to sit with the author himself and listen to him read the story aloud to our Grade 2 students. There was something deeply comforting about the way he shared this story. Warm, gentle, unhurried. He welcomed me with such openness and kindness during the book talk, and you could feel that s

Thursday Tides & Tales read aloud I’ve always loved how Kate Messner plays with words, and “The Whale’s Tale and the Otter’s Side of the Story”is such a clever and engaging example of that. My Grade 3 students immediately began making connections to the Who Would Win? series, and the conversations that followed were wonderful to listen to. I asked them, “If you were the whale, what would you say to the otter?” and then reversed the question. Their background knowledge, empath

Brown Skin, Bright Sun, Beautiful Belonging I did not expect a picture book to bring back memories I had quietly tucked away for years. While reading “Ritu in the Sun” by Moniza Hossain illustrated by Merce Lopez to my class, I found myself thinking about how many children and adults grow up believing they need to change the colour of their skin to be accepted, admired, or considered beautiful. As a child, I remember being surrounded by conversations about becoming “fairer.”

Terrific Tuesday Read Aloud. If there is a chicken on the cover, my class already knows one thing for certain… this book is going to be funny. We have been laughing our way through the Interrupting Chicken series by David Ezra Stein, and honestly, these books are pure storytelling chaos in the best possible way. Loud interruptions. Wild plot twists. Dramatic retellings. Endless giggles. What I love most is how these books invite children to play with stories instead of just l

There is something quietly powerful about when a familiar fairytale is retold through a different cultural lens. “The Princess and the Grain of Rice” by Tina Cho feels both timeless and refreshingly new. Inspired by The Princess and the Pea, this beautifully reimagined story transports readers to the mountains of Joseon Korea, where future princesses are tested not by beauty, but through wisdom, kindness, manners, and heart. Jeongsoon was the heart of this story for me. She i

Terrific Thursday Read Aloud I don’t think I’ve ever read a Kobi Yamada book that didn’t quietly stay with me long after I closed it. Others: A Story for All of Us initially feels simple on the surface, but after reading it aloud to my class, I realised just how powerful its message truly is. It gently reveals how easily we create “us” and “them” in the world around us, often without even noticing it. Sometimes these invisible divisions appear in schools, communities, countri

Wordless Wednesday Read aloud
Where the loudest thinking happens in the quiet. Today we sat together with The Boy and the Elephant by Freya Blackwood and simply “read.” No words. Just pages, pauses, and presence. And yet, the room was filled with. “Ooh…”“Ahh…”“Look I see an elephant.” Wordless picture books do something powerful. They hand the story over to the child. No prescribed language. No fixed interpretation. Just space to imagine, to wonder, to co-create meaning. A qu

There is something magical about books that help children notice what they usually overlook. After coming back from zoo camp, my class and I were already thinking about animals but this time, we shifted our gaze to the tiniest ones. Meet the “Mini-Mammals: A Night at the Natural History Museum” by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by my favourite illustrator Brian Lies, They had them completely drawn in from the very first spread. What I love most is how this book quietly teaches

Found a quiet gem in Amsterdam bookstore “In and Out the Window “by one of my all-time favourites, Jane Yolen. This collection moves gently between past and present, weaving in familiar pieces with newer poems that range from playful rhymed couplets to longer, more reflective poems. It reminded me of something I often forget in the classroom—how simple children’s poetry can be, and how powerful that simplicity is. In a world that feels increasingly complex, perhaps what we ne

I walked into a Paris bookshop thinking of Emily in Paris—style, streets, a little romance with the city—but instead found Emily Saw a Door by Mel Rosenberg, illustrated by Orit Magia, and everything slowed down. As I read, I was reminded of Harold and the Purple Crayon—that quiet, powerful idea that when the world doesn’t open up for you, you begin to draw your own way through it. Emily’s journey feels simple on the surface, a girl, a door, a search for belonging, but undern

I picked up My Lost Freedom by George Takei thinking I knew enough about this part of history. I didn’t. This book stopped me. It is written simply, but it carries so much weight. A child trying to understand why he and his family were taken from their home and placed in a camp, not because of anything they did, but because of who they were. What struck me most was my own gap in knowledge. I didn’t know there were only ten camps. I didn’t know how families lived in them. I di

I picked this up quietly during Ramadan, in between reading picture books and writing reviews. Ramadan Reflections slowed me down in a way I didn’t expect. Each day, I read a chapter and it never felt like It didn’t feel preachy or overwhelming. It felt like I was sitting with someone… talking things through. The writing moves between personal stories and gentle reminders.
Not heavy. Not overwhelming. It is just honest. Some days it brought a sense of calm.
Some days it made

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to read “Together on Eid” to my class.
 With Eid just two days away, it finally felt right and as we read, the questions came almost immediately.
 “Is it like Christmas?”
“Is it like Lunar New Year?”
“Is it like Easter?” We paused there for a bit. I told them, Eid is an Islamic celebration and then we started noticing what felt familiar. The getting ready.
The food.
The excitement.
Being with family. One student said, “Oh… so it’s like w

Some books arrive at the perfect moment. “Ramadan Rain” by Jamilah Thompkins- Bigelow landed in my hands just one week before Eid, during these final days of Ramadan when hearts feel a little softer and more reflective. In this beautiful story, Haneen rides through the rain with her Momma on the way to the masjid. Her Momma reminds her that rain during Ramadan brings blessings and that prayers whispered on rainy days carry hope. Like many children preparing for Eid, Haneen be

Some books remind us that courage does not have to be loud. “Sydney’s Big Speech” by Malcolm Newsome and ade Orlando tells the story of Sydney, a girl who feels nervous when her class is asked to give a speech. With her father’s encouragement and the inspiration of remarkable women who used their voices to change the world, Sydney slowly discovers the courage to find her own words. What I loved most is that the story does not treat shyness as a problem. Instead, it reminds us

Language Week always feels personal to me. These books are close to my heart — “The Arabic Quilt”, “Stolen Words”, “Stepping Stones”, “Words Between Us”, “Home in a Lunchbox”, and “What Makes Us Human”. Each one reminds me that language is more than communication. It is memory. It is ancestry. It is belonging. Paying tribute to our mother tongue means honouring the stories that shaped us. Our languages carry our grandparents’ voices, our lullabies, our prayers, our humour. Th